A young nurse who threw her five-month-old child to safety when she was about to be hit by a car has “blocked out“ the horror crash.
Ruby Flanagan, 25, from Wallasey, was carrying her newborn baby over a zebra crossing near Aldi when she was crushed between a silver Mercedes and a blue Volkswagen on Monday, August 16, 2021.
Ruby, a nurse at Wirral’s Arrowe Park Hospital, was airlifted to Aintree Hospital after the crash and had to have her right leg amputated and the other put into a stabilising cage, Liverpool Echo reported.
The heroic mum has now returned to Aintree to thank staff who cared for her during her 13-week stay at the hospital, during which time she had nine operations.
Ruby said: “It was horrible to be on the other side – I am so used to being the one providing care, so to be a patient was so difficult.
"From the moment I was brought in, all of the staff at the Major Trauma Centre were amazing, going above and beyond for me. I really felt like I was part of a family, part of the team.”
Ben Fischer, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Major Trauma Centre, where Ruby has been treated, admitted he was incredibly proud of the lifesaving treatment his team provided.
He said: “When you have a life-changing injury that requires multiple operations, every second counts.
"At the Major Trauma Centre we are set up so that patients like Ruby can come straight here and receive the urgent care they need.
"Having an expert multi-disciplinary team makes a real difference to our patients’ care.
"It’s this teamwork that gives patients their best chance of recovery and we’re incredibly proud of the exceptional lifesaving care we have and will continue to provide.”
For Ruby, the expert care at the Major Trauma Centre was paramount to her recovery, both physically and mentally.
She said: “Being there for three months I naturally grew so close to everyone, and I think that really helped me on my road to recovery as they pushed me to do more, to get better.
"It felt like a safety net, knowing I could be looked after by these amazing people.”
Dr Róisín Cunningham, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Liverpool University Hospitals, says psychological support is crucial for recovery as there are a number of traumatic circumstances in which patients may need support.
She said: “From a psychological point of view there can be huge adjustments that need to be made which require tremendous strength and resilience.
"We’re helping people to adjust to loss and change and we want patients to leave therapy believing in themselves.
"I’m continually amazed by patients like Ruby and what they can achieve and cope with.
"It’s about reaching a positive balance of motivation to move forward, but also acknowledging loss and allowing yourself to process what you may have experienced, especially for someone like Ruby, who had a particularly traumatic experience."
Ruby has been continuing her rehabilitation at STEPS, a dedicated residential facility in Sheffield, and hopes by the end of July she will be able to have the stabilising cage around her left leg and the bar in her pelvis removed.
She is grateful to all the staff that have helped her and has managed to block out a lot of the traumatic accident.
Ruby said: “There’s too many people to thank, but everyone from the public on the day of the accident, North West Air Ambulance and North West Ambulance Service, to staff at the MTC and Day One Trauma Support, they have helped me so much.
“I’ve blocked a lot of the accident out. It was so traumatic – I can’t describe how it felt – but by the end of my three months in hospital I felt ready to leave and continue my rehabilitation thanks to all the staff at Aintree."
